Thailand Air Quality and Pollution Alerts

[Big Boy]

We have added a Hua Hin air quality widget to the forum, it is just below the currencies in the right column.

Please refresh your browser (F5) to see it of you don't already.

Thank you - helpful.

[Nereus]

Swampy Airport:

230US AQI
PM2.5 | 180.2 µg/m³
Provided by Happy & Healthy Bike Lane

[REEM]

Any suggestions as to where to purchase a decent PM2.5 mask in Hua Hin.

[laphanphon]

3M N95 / N99 masks are, should be available at HomePro & Global House. Where I got ours (HP & LAZ). Have yet to wear them though. Not really out and about that much locally besides dog at the park, or occasional surf side sitting. Which incoming breeze should keep most of the pollution to the west.

Except recently, AQI is usually 40-70 ish range. Not sure where our local 'airvisual' meter is, but lately been registering a lot higher than mine, almost 2X as much the past couple days. 145 earlier today where I was only getting 70.

We do find ourselves using the air purifiers more now, than last year, when we rarely turned them on.

[REEM]

^

Thanks for that info.

[caller]

Sometimes, you don't need a machine. Sat halfway down soi112 from about 16.45 and it wasn't the fading light covering up the view. The air was terrible. You could feel it.

[Big Boy]

Since my wife was severely affected by the poor air last month, I have been regularly monitoring the air quality here in Hua Hin.

I need to ask the clever people here because I would have expected levels to drop overnight, but as the town comes to life during the day, I would expect a gradual increase in the poisons. However, if I use this morning as an example, at 7:30 this morning the levels were 177. By 8:30 they have dropped to 165. This trend will most certainly continue as the day goes on. Todays trend happens most days.

So, what happens in the Hua Hin area overnight to push the air quality to unhealthy levels, and why, when Petchkasem will be clogged with exhaust belching vehicles do the air quality levels become almost acceptable?

[Nereus]

So, what happens in the Hua Hin area overnight to push the air quality to unhealthy levels, and why, when Petchkasem will be clogged with exhaust belching vehicles do the air quality levels become almost acceptable?

There are several reasons. Firstly a big percentage of what we are seeing now is smoke from fires, not vehicle pollution.
A lot of agriculture fires are lit at night, supposedly so the perps cannot be seen doing it.

Secondly it is the wind that moves the pollution, be it from cars or smoke. To save me typing:

The wind speed tends to decrease after sunset because at night the surface of the Earth cools much more rapidly than does the air above the surface. As a result of this difference in cooling ability, it doesn’t take long for the ground to become colder than the air above it.
The air in close contact with the ground — say in the lowest 300 feet of the atmosphere — then becomes colder than the air above it. This circumstance leads to the development of what is known as a temperature inversion. Inversions dramatically reduce the amount of mixing that occurs between different vertical layers of the atmosphere. As a consequence, once the inversion sets up (after sunset), it is much harder for fast-moving air above the ground to mix down to the surface, where it could appear as a gust of wind. During the day it is very easy for the air to mix and cause surface gusts.

Thirdly, for a geographical place close to the ocean, such as Hua Hin, the local air quality is again very much at the mercy of the wind direction, it tending to be cooler from passing over the ocean if blowing from the east or better, the south.

[Big Boy]

Thank you for the explanation. That also explains why it is often highest at the Black Mountain site in the mornings - I guess in town, apart from the poor air quality, we are oblivious to the agricultural burning.

As an aside, I was a good friend of Toby Charnaud. Our friendship that grew when he was a farmer in the UK. He used to burn his fields every year. However, he used to say it made no difference to his crops - they did it because it was great fun.

[Nereus]

Mods please decide if this should stand alone or combine with the Alerts thread:
……………………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………...…………..
A lot of info on the Internet about air purifiers for home use. There are some available for around 2,000 Baht, right up to those that cost around 60,000 Baht. So what's the deal? Is some "filter" from Lazada for around 5,000 Baht going to do the same job as an IQAir 250 brand that costs around 60,000 Baht, plus a replaceable filter at around 9,000 Baht?

I hope the following links are acceptable, especially Richard Barrow as he does not have an axe to grind. That "other" website also has some good info for those that indulge.

https://www.richardbarrow.com/2018/03/u ... gkok-smog/

https://www.expatden.com/thailand/air-p ... n-bangkok/

https://www.iqair.com/room-air-purifier ... pro-series

and in Thai: https://www.habitech.store/4508-IQAir-H ... ifier.html

[laphanphon]

I'm a Xiaomi product fan, and use those filter. Quite happy with them. Have 2 (bdrm /lvrm), and bought 1 for my daughter at Pathum Thani.

[PeteC]

Bangkok eighth worst in the world for air quality, global index shows

https://www.nationthailand.com/news/30380807

phpAvruh3PM.jpg (54.79 KiB) Viewed 2868 times

More about Bangkok and surrounding areas today: https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... -elsewhere

[Nereus]

Pralong Damrongthai, director-general of the Pollution Control Department, said the air quality was worse because of stagnant air and heavy traffic from Sunday. Southeasterly winds should clear some of the smog on Monday afternoon, he said.

Utter BS! It is smoke from fires to the east that is the main pollution. I drove out of Bangkok this morning and I have to say that it was about as bad as I have ever seen it. The website was not showing any readings earlier, but the visibility was less than 2 Kms from my Condo at Phrakhanong. Not sure just how all the readings in Bangkok are collated, but sometimes the site is showing "mist", when it is actually smoke. It also sometimes quotes "100% Humidity". Although not technically correct, 100% humidity usually means that it is raining when in the context of the weather, and that is not happening in Bangkok!

Maybe they are getting confused with the area where Thai Einstein is spraying water in the air!

[Nereus]

Disgusting country!

Swampy Airport
20:00, Jan 20 (local time)
199US AQI
PM2.5 | 149.1 µg/m³
Provided by Happy & Healthy Bike Lane
...…………………………………………………………………………………………
500 metres down my Soi in Bangkok
20:00, Jan 20 (local time)
Unhealthy
174US AQI
PM2.5 | 100.5 µg/m³
Provided by Outdoor School Bangkok

[Nereus]

City Hall orders staggered hours in fight against smog

https://www.bangkokpost.com/thailand/ge ... ainst-smog

City Hall has ordered about 20,000 personnel to start work at 10am instead of 8am and suspended classes at its 437 schools on Wednesday in its fight against unhealthy smog levels.

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) came up with four urgent measures to deal with the hazardous ultra-fine dust levels in the air in the capital, said spokesman Pongsakorn Kwanmuang.

The measures are the introduction of staggered working hours of 20,000 BMA personnel at City Hall in Sao Chingcha area and the BMA City Hall Tower 2 in Din Daeng, suspension of classes at all 437 BMA-run schools, distribution of face masks and campaigns to promote their use, said Pol Capt Pongsakorn.

The staggered working hours from 10am to 6pm instead of 8am to 4pm would help reduce the number of vehicles on Bangkok streets during rush hours, said the spokesman.

The staggered working hours would not affect public service as district offices would provide services at normal office hours of 8am to 4pm.

The 437 BMA-run schools would suspend classes on Wednesday as there were inadequate air purifiers at several schools. The temporary closure of the schools would also reduce the use of private cars by parents.

He insisted that the suspension of classes would not affect learning as the schools would provide special classes later.

On the distribution of face masks, the BMA’s 68 healthcare centres had about 400,000 face mask. During the dust crisis, more face masks will be handed out to people at BTS skytrain stations, starting on Jan 21, he said. Face masks were also distributed to people at bus stops.

The BMA also urged people to wear face masks during this period.